You fall of the end of the world when you sail beyond the horizon-Then again if the other guy did it-its just a bad rumor. There is alot of Not Invented Here-If X brand "the worlds greatest" didn't do it then how good could it be? Or it doesn't work on boats less than X size. Its true that Ducks and gators like to sun on a bulb bow-its also true that the most efficient thing you can do to a displacement boat is increase its waterline lenght-and the cheapest way of accomplishing that is to add an appendage a bit more at the rear or front.Yes I am thinking about building an intergrated into the hull "swim platform" that adds tankage for gasoline and creates a bracket for an outboard-reduces squat when overpowered and adds waterline. There's a freedom in custom boats-the fear that production boat owners have in altering design elements just because they didn't come that way-I't will reduce its resale value. In Europe yards are busy adding bulbs to older designs for economy. Dollar for effort its the easiest/cheapest thing to do . 10plus times cheaper than engineering in and buying a sail rig. There are other benifits, like pitching reduction. If you don't want to think about it, don't-but telling tales (without an NA at the end of your name) that deminish thoughs/discussion about the merits of the element of bulb bows as an add on-is just spoiling. This all started about fuel costs-the advantages of sail rigs-I thought I would help by mentioning bulb bows as an economy measure beyond the standard design elements of hull shape PC, windage/stability A/B with the third element S/L. its in the books-its designed into my boat with 200,000 logged miles-which at 45,000 pounds wet/heavy has been running at 5.7nmpg including gen use with a 45hp engine 3/1 reduction and a 34 inch prop since being built in steel by Sutton Boatworks in 1966. I'll be quite now. Kevin/Trawler JOLIE Al Thomason <thomason.al@gmail.com> wrote: I seem to remember reading one architect opinion around Bulbous Bows: For the cost associated with fitting one to small boats of our size, it was better to just extend the length of the whole boat 2'. Gaining the same 'efficiency' improvements that a BBow would give to a shorter boat, and also providing the benefits of more usable space. -al- _______________________________________________ http://lists.samurai.com/mailman/listinfo/passagemaking-under-power To unsubscribe send email to passagemaking-under-power-request@lists.samurai.com with the word UNSUBSCRIBE and nothing else in the subject or body of the message. Passagemaking Under Power and PUP are trademarks of Water World Productions, formerly known as Trawler World Productions. --------------------------------- Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now.